1st Edition

The Structural Exclusion of Rape Complainants in South Africa’s Criminal Justice System Justice through Participation

By Jameelah Omar Copyright 2026
194 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

194 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Exploring the intricate dynamics surrounding rape complainants within the South African criminal justice system, this book proposes reforms in the approach to participation of victims with the aim of mitigating the structural barriers imposed by the adversarial process. Broadening the concept of participation, the book takes a comprehensive view of meaningful participation at every stage of the... Read more

Chapter 1 Introduction   Chapter 2 The concept of participation for complainants in the criminal justice system   Chapter 3 Participation to further justice in the criminal process   Chapter 4 The focus on rape complainants   Chapter 5 Arguments against complainant participation   Chapter 6 The structural exclusion of rape complainants in an adversarial system like South Africa   Chapter 7 Current opportunities for participation: Law and policy in South Africa   Chapter 8 Lessons from foreign and international jurisdictions   Chapter 9 Proposals for increased complainant participation in South Africa   Chapter 10 Conclusion

Biography

Jameelah Omar is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She has an LLB, LLM, and PhD in Law from UCT.
Omar joined UCT as a Lecturer in 2015. Her research and teaching centres on Criminal Justice, specifically in the areas of Sexual Offences, Criminal Procedure
and doctrinal Criminal Law. She also convenes and facilitates the UCT Law Community Service programme, which requires students to perform legally oriented
volunteer work as a degree requirement. Omar’s doctoral work focused on the rights of rape complainants within the structure of South Africa’s adversarial
legal system. She is an associate member of the Centre for Law and Society at UCT where she heads the Sexual Violence programme, and she is a Trustee on
the Board for the Women’s Legal Centre Trust. She has appeared as an expert witness in court cases as an expert on sexual violence. Prior to joining UCT, she
was an attorney at the Centre of Legal Studies (CALS) based at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).